Amazing floor of a 1700's stone house.

The oldest section of the house had a wood floor and we suspected it was a hand-dug foundation using lots of rocks for support. We finally removed the floor of this section and it was quite amazing, all the beams except 2 are in fine shape, no rotting or termites. We did confirm, however,

how the wildlife got into the house! 

Here you can see the beams and the dirt underneath with only a few inches of airspace between the 2.

Here is a view looking towards the old front door (on the right) which we made into a window. You can see the old chimney to the left.

 

New roof for an old lady

This section of the house is the oldest, approximately 1700's, and it was in dire need of attention as you can imagine. Using the original rafters and sistering  additional rafters we got a new base for cedar shakes. In the process we had to remove the section of the chimney above the roof-line, no surprise there, it crumbled.

Here is great pic of the house when we bought it, a real difference!

Bringing it back up!

So, our 200+ year old stone house is finally getting some needed attention. We've evicted the snakes, mice, and rats (yes, rats) and Brian and Foster are working at bringing her back to life!

We have plenty of stones on hand to get the job done too. The lintels are from our fields.

The Dog House!

Ok, so this is a bit much, I know, but we needed to put something under the steps to stabilize them and I had seen this somewhere so I figured, "why not!" We have yet to see the dogs in it but I'm sure it will popular during thunder storms.

Our new kitchen!

 So I bought these cabinets at a place called Green Demolitions which is a non-profit that sells showroom kitchens and high end cabinetry that would otherwise be discarded. I bought these in 2013 and they've been in our barn ever since. I love them and I was able to find a dealer who could match them as we needed a few extra!

 This is our beautiful island made my T. Johnson in Hopewell. Its made from steel and salvaged

box-car wood.

It's quite heavy. Notice it's on rollers here.

 For comparison here are 2 pics of our previous kitchen. Rich is catching mice........nice.

Our new window seat.

This is Richard sitting on our new window seat in the bedroom. It was his idea and it was a great one as we have 4 huge storage drawers underneath. 

Eventually we will get a cushion made so that it's nice and comfy.

Finishing the Chimney

Dan and Dale are making it to the top, it was an amazing amount of work but it looks great!

Been a long time! Sorry

Ok, Ok I've been busy. I haven't posted anything since March but lots has certainly happened. I don't know where to begin so I will start with some pics and go from there.

The dogs are making themselves at home!

I can't wait to do laundry!

This basement laundry turned out a lot nicer than we planned, it has wonderful light and with a nice faux wood floor and Home Depot cabinets it looks awesome……and all the space. 

A pic of our current laundry room. This is part of the living room. Nice, huh

Amazing!

This is the basement entrance that has the cool-o dog wash, it's behind the half wall there on the left.

Beautiful Knotty Alder Doors

One of the times we were out at Hamilton Supply looking at windows we saw these rally pretty doors they had on display there that were made of knotty alder. Since we don't have a lot of doors on the new section of the house we decided to go with  these. We still haven't decided on a stain yet.

This is looking into the awesome mud room. Three closets to fill with our muddy boots and dog paraphernalia.

This is the Dutch door that goes into the mud room. When we have wet pups we can leave them in there till they dry off. The door on the left goes into the powered room. 

The giant chimney!

One of the things we liked so much about the design of this house is that it had a beautiful wood burning fireplace. I have to say it's quite a luxury as it's taken more hours, by Dan, Dale, and Craig, that I can count. He was one of the first on the job and will be here at the end as well. Good thing we like him and his work!

Here is a pic of the rocks laid out for easy selection.

Finally heading up the stairs. This makes it quite difficult for anyone else to work upstairs.

Dan the mason in action. Once these are set they'll come back and grout in between all the rocks. 

Rocks on the upper level for the upper part of the chimney.

Concrete Floor

Initially we were going to put down hardwood floor in the whole house but we to opted for a  poured concrete floor for durability and looks. Additionally, it's a great heat sink for our radiant flooring so we went for it.

 After it had cured for 28 days they started polishing the floor.

Expansion joints were cut shortly after the floor was pureed, this is to prevent stress cracks. It has been 2 months since the floor was poured and there is only one small crack. 

It's quite a messy job.

More Tile

Master bathroom, beautiful travertine and slate.

Guest bathroom in the 19th century part of the house. Penny tile and subway tile. 

Guest bathroom with bathtub. 

Pick a Color!

It was a scary day when Eric asked us for paint colors for the whole house. While I can easily pick a color for one room, especially if I don't like the current scheme, a whole house was quite overwhelming.  

We were introduced to the "color wheel". Yikes!

Any inspiration I can get. Thanks Houzz!

Some color combo's. 

Whoopie! Tile process started.

It doesn't seem that long ago that we just had a hole in the ground and lots of mud but Princeton Stone and Tile started the tile install a week or so ago and they've done an amazing job. Here's what we have so far.

My favorite, the dog wash station! Very indulgent, I know, but it is quite muddy here and Donut can get dirty even when it's dry and sunny! With this little spot I can just hose her off before she runs around the house. This is right inside the basement entrance door, very convenient.

The master bath shower floor. I can't wait to walk on these stones barefoot.

Guest bath with tub, I absolutely loves these tiles. The red you see will be covered with a 5" shelf the whole length of the tub.

First floor bath with walk-in shower so when I'm too old to lift up my feet I can just shuffle in!

Anne to the Rescue!

Thanks to Anne we were able to pick out some paint colors for the old part of the house so the painters could start getting some color on the walls. While  I can easily pick colors for one room, choosing for  the whole house has been quite overwhelming! 

We've also gotten some great design ideas for the kitchen, including some miniature mock-ups!

check out these kitchen layouts………to scale no less! 

Absolutely amazing!

Concrete floor!

One of our big design decisions was what floor covering to use in the main house. While I've always been a fan of wide plank wood floors Richard thought polished concrete might look really nice, along with a wood ceiling, and I agree so here we go!

 This is the radiant tubing going down before the re-bar and the concrete, I'm really looking forward to being able to walk barefoot!

 Pouring the concrete! Cool…... and messy.

The guys were here well into the night making it perfectly smooth. Great job!

Sheetrock!

Nothing makes it look more like a house when the sheetrock goes up. As expected these guys who did it were amazing and carried these 14' sheets of rock like they were made of air.

It looks amazing!

A way down.

It's an exciting day as two of the staircases go in, not sure how the second one will get in place as it weighs about 1000 pounds and, no offense, the crew is a little long on the tooth! 

These are the steps to the basement. Awesome!